Customer Reviews

Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana

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There is a plethora of excellent recordings of this old war-house out there but you cannot go wrong if you pick this one. It is conducted by the ever-reliable Erede, somewhat disregarded today but a man who presided expertly over a number of thrilling, blood 'n guts renditions of operatic favourites in the 50's for Decca. His orchestra has the music in its blood and although the lusty chorus is afflicted by some screechy sopranos, their raucousness is not out of place in this rustic melodrama. The sound is terrific; a model of clarity with strings rather too much to the fore. Erede permits plenty of rubato and the score swaggers and lilts just as it should in an entirely authentic manner. Bjorling is anything but raucous but that does not mean that he is lacking fire or passion; the voice (at least in this recording - I don't know if he could have managed quite the same effect live) rings out magnificently and he manages to keep up with La Tebaldi. (Bjorling once remarked that singing on stage with her was "like singing with two sopranos", such is the amplitude of her tone.) To complete the starry trio, we have the inimitable, bronze-voiced Bastianini roaring away mellifluously as Alfio. What a cast, what an opera, what a recording. The author of the liner notes manages to be disparaging both about Bjorling's top notes and Del Monaco's "loudness" elsewhere for Decca (impudently suggesting that Bastianini's artistry compensated for Del Monaco's lack of it) - otiose and irrelevant criticisms both; thank you very much, Mr Nobody....

You could just as easily buy the Serafin/Del Monaco/Simionato version or the later Levine with Scotto and Domingo - but if you want these particular singers, you won't be disappointed.

This is my favorite Cavalleria Rusticana recording. Bjorling is spine-tingling. This is a must-own recording.